NATO Air Policing operations

U.S. Air Force News

  • Hurricane Hunters testing new SATCOM capabilities

    The aerial reconnaissance weather officer sits adjacent, quality checking the figures from the dropsonde, as it plummets to the ocean’s surface, and from the stepped frequency microwave radiometer attached to the wing of the aircraft.

  • Hurricane Hunters wrap up Hurricane Sam missions

    The Air Force Reserve’s 53rd Weather Reconnaissance Squadron Hurricane Hunters, from Keesler Air Force Base, Mississippi, began flying the storm after moving to their forward operating location in St. Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands, to collect weather data and provide the National Hurricane Center more

  • Hurricane Hunters wrap up Elsa recon ahead of landfall

    The Air Force Reserve’s 53rd Weather Reconnaissance Squadron Hurricane Hunters wrapped up their aerial reconnaissance efforts for Tropical Storm Elsa, July 7, after the storm made landfall on the northwest coast of Florida.

  • Hurricane Hunters fly winter storm

    A WC-130J Super Hercules aircraft departed Keesler Air Force Base midday to fly the western Atlantic flight track, off the Northeast coast.

  • Hurricane Hunters fly atmospheric rivers

    The Hurricane Hunters are scheduled to perform “AR recon” from January through March. Scientists, led by Scripps Institution of Oceanography at University of California, San Diego, working in partnership with the 53rd WRS, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s National Weather Service

  • Reserve Airmen hunt hurricanes

    This specialized unit of Reserve Airmen is made up of a five-person crew consisting of a pilot, co-pilot, navigator, aerial reconnaissance weather officer and loadmaster who is also the dropsonde operator.

  • Hurricane Hunters fly Atmospheric Rivers

    In November 2018, California experienced one of its most destructive fires with more than 150,000 acres burned, 18,000 homes destroyed, over 80 deaths, and with the winter rainfall season ahead, heavy rain can bring flooding and mudslides.

  • US Naval Academy tests waters with Hurricane Hunters

    When the subject of summer internships comes up, thoughts of fetching coffee and doing paperwork or answering phone calls come to mind.What does not come to mind is working 10,000 feet in the air in an Air Force Reserve WC-130J Hercules flying through a hurricane for the sake of research.

  • Hurricane Hunters prepare the Caribbean

    More than 20,000 people attended the Caribbean Hurricane Awareness Tour hosted April 24-29, 2017 by the 53rd Weather Reconnaissance Squadron “Hurricane Hunters” and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.